One of the best things about the draft is that from it we can find out what teams really think about their current players. Excluding examples of teams filling obvious needs, here are some of the more revealing draft picks from 2011, with a quick blurb of what the team was really saying by making this pick.

1st round, Julio Jones, WR, AlabamaWe’re one playmaker away from being Super Bowl-bound. (And if you couldn’t figure for yourself that this was our reason, you might as well stop following pro football right now.)

1st round, Mark Ingram, RB, AlabamaHe may have been productive as a rookie, but we’re not buying into Chris Ivory (there’s a reason the guy was undrafted). Also, no way in hell we’re going to pay Reggie Bush a single dime more than he’s worth to us. If Bush is looking to roll major bank, he’d better call his realtor.

3rd round, Mason Foster, OLB, WashingtonWe’ll move him to the middle and not re-sign Barrett Ruud. Why? Because the biggest secret in football is Ruud is iffy if not terrible. Why do you think we’re always finishing near the bottom of the league in run defense?

Check back throughout the week for other division’s Draft Truths Revealed. To see all Draft Truths Revealed, click the “Draft Truths” tag.

A couple stories today on the Bears defense and what the addition of DE Julius Peppers to the right side of the line will mean to this year’s squad.

LB Brian Urlacher is excited about Peppers. He tells the Chicago Tribune that with Peppers harassing the opposing quarterback, that will allow Chicago’s Cover-2 defensive scheme to work more effectively.

"The year before the Super Bowl and the year of the Super Bowl, we were good,'' Urlacher told the paper. "We ran so much Cover 2, and it worked. We had pressure on the quarterback. We had a lot of picks. … We have the talent and the ability to play more man coverage. But here's the thing: Cover 2 works. When we do it right and when we have pressure with our front four and we're breaking on the ball like we've been doing all this spring, it works. There is no doubt in my mind that we will have pressure on the quarterback this season.''

Urlacher said he expects the Bears to blitz less, because it’s assumed Peppers and Mark Anderson will get plenty of pressure by themselves off the edge – they replace Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye, a combined 12.5 sacks in 2009, from last year. Defensive tackles Tommie Harris, who probably won’t see as many double-teams because of Peppers, and Anthony Adams also will be expected to help.

Theoretically, that means the Bears could drop as many as seven defenders into pass coverage.

ESPN Chicago’s Jeff Dickerson, though, wonders about how effective Anderson can be opposite of Peppers.

From his story:

New starter Mark Anderson registered only 3.5 sacks, a far cry from his breakout rookie year in 2006 when he had 12. To further complicate matters, Anderson has been in this position before. He was elevated to first string in 2007, but was unable to effectively play both the pass and run, and eventually lost to starting position back to Brown. What has Anderson done to restore the Bears' faith in him? Why was Brown deemed expendable? These are question only Anderson can answer by his performance on the field. The Bears do have plenty of depth at defensive end in the form of Israel Idonije, Jarron Gilbert and rookie Corey Wootton, but it may be unfair to expect any of the reserves to put up high sack totals.

In the end, much of how the Bears defense will perform comes down to how Peppers plays. If he returns to his form the past two years – where he’s combined for 25 sacks – as opposed to 2007 (when he had just 2.5), he should have the ability to shoulder many of those burdens.

Some general NFL news upkeep: Yesterday the New Orleans Saints re-signed veteran end Bobby McCray to a one-year contract. McCray started for an injured Charles Grant during the playoff run last season. Surprisingly, he was released earlier this offseason.

McCray’s presence is potentially crucial to a New Orleans pass-rush that would have been little more than decent with only Will Smith and Alex Brown. Expect McCray’s primary role to be sharing third-down reps with Brown. It’s not entirely out of the question that McCray could start ahead of Brown. McCray is a limber athlete with good initial quickness. He plays upright, though, which gives him problems as a playside run anchor. Brown, however, with his questionable strength, has the same issue.

The most interesting news of the day has to be the New Orleans Saints releasing DE Bobby McCray. Not because McCray has been an established starter during his six-year career in the NFL (he’s started less than 40 percent of the time). And not because McCray was all-world last year for the Super Bowl winners (he had 1.5 sacks and eight tackles on the season, but much of that can be attributed to a lingering back injury).

The release is noteworthy – and surprising – because McCray has worked with the first-team defense most of the offseason, and with the release of DE Charles Grant shortly after last season, observers figured McCray would jump the starting spot opposite Will Smith. Apparently not.

McCray told WWL-TV that he was speechless, but according to CBSSports.com Rapid Reporter Larry Holder . McCray might have begun to lose the interest of coach Sean Payton last year when he was continuously late to team meetings, including one on Super Bowl media day. Payton wrote about those incidents in his book, “Home Team” . Payton also wondered aloud during the actual Super Bowl whether McCray was “tough enough."

The DWI for which he was arrested in November certainly didn’t help matters. Also, Pro Football Talk has theorized the Saints dumped McCray, because they would have owed him a $1.25 million roster bonus in 10 days.

But fear not. The Saints have some options to replace McCray. In the offseason, they signed Alex Brown and Jimmy Wilkerson, and the way it looks now, Brown would be the first to get a chance to win the spot that’s been vacated by McCray.

--Josh Katzowitz

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